24pc revenue rise for AP Møller–Mærsk

Revenue was up 24 per cent to $9.5 billion at AP Møller–Mærsk in the second quarter –  largely as a result of the purchase of Hamburg Süd. Without that, growth was 5.7 per cent.

The company made an underlying profit of $88 million in the second quarter of 2018 – down from $205 million the year before.

Chief executive Søren Skou said: “With revenue up 24 per cent in Q2, we continued to deliver strong growth. The acquisition of Hamburg Süd of course was a positive contributor to growth in our Ocean segment, and we are pleased with the organic growth in non-Ocean. We expect revenue of around $40bn in 2018, up almost 50 per cent since 2016.

“We also delivered a sharp improvement in unit cost in Ocean, after a Q1 that was negatively impacted by inflow of capacity from the acquisition of Hamburg-Süd and network issues. Profitability was significantly impacted by higher bunker prices in Q2 and remained at unsatisfactory levels. For the rest of the year we expect improvements in our profitability driven by lower unit cost and higher freight rates.”

Lower unit costs were mainly driven by a reduction in network costs in Ocean, comprising network changes and increase in loaded volume.